Users understand and know how to launch resources on their local computer. When connected to a domain (e.g. Active Directory domain), administrators can ease the burden of installing resources and setting up remote desktops by pushing the resources and settings out via Group Policy.
Current methods of “installing” resources to non-managed desktops over the internet are far from perfect. There are only a few options such as sending out installation files that the users have to install, or using technology such as Terminal Services (TS) Web Access, where an administrator may give users a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to visit that allows users to launch remote programs through the webpage. However, these types of installations have limitations. For example, anything a user has to install locally means that the administrator has lost control of patching the resources or upgrading the application without the help of the user installing an additional package. Solutions such as TS Web Access are great for providing the ability to manage the resources, but they may be limited in other ways, such as the inability to double click on a file and launch the remote application. Therefore, methods and systems that reduce or mitigate these undesirable aspects of the conventional methods would have considerable utility.